Apple has posted a new video on its Chinese retail website, giving a peek at renowned calligrapher Wang Dongling as he created a mural for the company’s upcoming West Lake store in Hangzhou.
The video shows the artist using precise brush strokes to form characters around an Apple logo on a surface, which is then shown covering the West Lake retail location.
The West Lake store – set to open on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 9 AM local time – is just one of five retail stores Apple is expected to open in the next five weeks, just ahead of the shopping season for China’s Feb. 19 Chinese New Year holiday. Apple will soon be operating 20 retail stores in China and Hong Kong, with a goal of 40 China-based retail locations in the next several years.
Apple Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts recently told China’s Xinhua News Agency that the company is in the midst of a major expansion, and is hiring in China. She noted the biggest challenge is keeping up with demand for stores while providing the same global customer service standards.
Ahrendts would not disclose where the other three stores will be, but Apple’s China website lists retail jobs in 15 places, including Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanxi and Tianjin, none of which currently have Apple retail locations.
